I wrote a scathing review of the new animated series The Batman when
it premiered on Kids' WB last year. Too dark, I said. Too
self-consciously moody, I charged. Too different in portrayals of
criminals like Joker and Penguin, I wrote. I gave up on the show after
two episodes.
Recently I've had occasion to watch it again, now that it's been moved
to Cartoon Network, airing just before the awesome Justice League
Unlimited. I must say I'm liking the show a whole lot more. It is
dark, but I'm coming to see that reflects the Gotham that breeds the
likes of Joker and the other psycho criminals The Batman must fight,
just like in the comics and the movies. I guess it was the particular
palette used for this series (more of a reddish, depressing background),
but I'm getting over that. I also didn't originally like Bruce Wayne,
who, conversely, didn't seem dark enough to my tastes. I'm more used to
the Wayne who spoke in the low, harsh whispery voice whenever he was in
costume, or at home alone with Alfred. The Wayne who seemed to be the
mask worn over the real persona of Batman. This Wayne seemed a little
more, well--normal and happy to me. Then I took a look at Christian Bale
in Batman Begins, and I realized that both that movie and this series
are dealing with Batman in the early days. When he was still young and
finding his way. When, even though he's of course driven by anger and
bitterness, he's perhaps not yet as jaded as years of crimefighting will
ultimately make him. So give the man a break, he's still young enough to
make jokes with Alfred and actually have fun every now and then. He can
shoot hoops with his buddy just to have fun. He can be forgiven for
getting cocky and cracking jokes that seem out of character. Like the
movie, I can allow for personality discrepancies between this Bat and
the one I know because he is new to the game.
Finally i have to admit I like the writing in this series. There's a
skill to crafting an action cartoon that isn't just a 30 minute series
of battles and great animation. It needs to have heart and soul,
believable characters, good writing that gives flesh to the images and
makes them more than caricatures. The Batman does that pretty well. In
addition to the byplay between Wayne and Alfred, it's given us some
other interesting characters such as Detective Yen, the cop who wants to
bring Batman in as a vigilante. Then there's her partner Ethan Bennett,
Bruce's best friend, and Captain Rojas, who's vowed to bring in Batman
and the criminal freaks he fights, all of whom he sees as menaces to
society. These characters help to enrich the stories and give us more
than wham-bam! fights. All of these various elements came together
quite well in a recent two-part story that detailed the origins of the
villain Clayface. Without giving too much away, let's say this story
brought in Joker, Rojas, Yen, and Bennet. It dealt with Wayne's guilt
over keeping his identity secret from Ethan, tragic consequences to the
likes of the Joker being loose, and Yen's evolving attitude about the
need for Batman in the increasingly bizarre landscape that Gotham is
becoming. And watching Rojas, who's lumped Batman along with the
super-villains he's vowed to take down, we can't help but realize that
Rojas just doesn't get it. He has no insight to the fact that normal
police can't fight the fight the Bat does. You just know it's only a
matter of time before Rojas is out and Commissioner Gordon--who
understood the need for the vigilante--is in.
Once something I just watched to fill the half hour before JL, I find
myself looking forward to seeing The Batman for its own sake. I can
only hope it continues to get better and builds on the sometimes
excellent stories I've seen. It's still not quite as good to my mind as
the great Batman animated series from the 80s, but as a new telling of
the Dark Knight's origin, it stands well on its own, and together with
the recent movie, does a nice job of taking the legend in a slightly new
direction.
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